Teamwork: Every Player Matters

In fifth and sixth grade, all students participate in drama classes along with their music and visual arts programming, and interested students are invited to participate in an extracurricular play, with rehearsals taking place after school.
Students get a taste of what it is to experience drama, and Merideth observes, “Those interested in performance start to get hooked, and they enter seventh grade with a foundation they can build on.”

Come seventh and eighth grade, all students are asked to choose both “majors” and “minors” in various arts disciplines. Students choose to participate in visual arts, music and drama through either “minor” or “major” courses. “The committed musician or visual artist still gets the chance to experience theater education, while the student who loves drama can, through the drama major, gain meaningful depth and skills in dramatic arts,” Merideth explains.

Students who major in drama in seventh or eighth grade take the “Acting Intensive” course, which stresses rehearsal and performance techniques and in which students prepare and present two shows each year. Students who opt to minor in drama take “All Things Theatrical,” in which they learn about playwriting, improvisation, elements of design, auditioning, directing and other elements of theater without the intensive performance commitment of a show.

Significantly, in the seventh and eighth grade, the majority of rehearsals happen during the school day. “We found that with all the competing demands on their schedules, from school or club sports or other activities, the after-school rehearsal time became so fractured. And, the techniques they learn can be better taught in a classroom setting,” Merideth observes. “We put our energy into the Acting Intensive program as a way to give students the skills they need to succeed on stage. The rehearsal process takes time—and students are able to have more time to build their roles when they rehearse during class time than they would if we only rehearsed after school.

Students are challenged through the course structure to gain understanding of what they can contribute to their rehearsals and performances and to come prepared with ideas. By the time we get to blocking scenes, the students are making their own choices. They have control and ownership over their performances, rather than just being told what to do. That’s exciting for me,” she notes.

These foundations help build confidence, and with that, deeper commitment from the students. Senior Matthew Bonanno began working with Merideth Maddox in “behind the scenes” functions in the seventh grade. “I was charged with writing down blocking, organizing props, and keeping the actors focused,” he recalls. “I never thought that I would want to act, and assumed that I would always work for the crew.” He credits the Middle School program—and the energy, enthusiasm, and dedication with which Merideth approached each rehearsal—with inspiring him to try performing as an eighth grader. Four years and seven Hackley Drama performances later, he remains a dedicated member of Hackley’s theater program. Matthew reflects, “At each of our Upper School rehearsals, I hope to emulate the same energy, discipline and focus that Ms. Maddox brought each day.”

The program emphasizes fun while encouraging students to think creatively. Senior Jack Clark, who was among the first students to participate in the Acting Intensive class, reports, “In one mock audition, Ms. Maddox had asked me to try and get a dog to help me commit a crime, and, without thinking, I began trying to bribe the dog, offering him a cut of the loot after helping me rob a bank. After that didn’t work because dogs have no need for currency, I immediately dropped to the floor and began barking at the dog. I figured we needed to be speaking in the same language. But the part I remember being most impactful was that I didn’t even care that I was on the floor barking wildly at something that wasn’t even there, in front of a teacher and all of my friends.”
The course structure also supports the teaching of theatrical discipline—what it mean to be “off book,” the importance of maintaining silence backstage, the need to take responsibility for one’s own props and costumes, and, overall, to understand that all this contributes to successful performance.

As Merideth notes, this discipline also effectively underscores the importance of teamwork. “Teamwork is at the heart of dramatic performance,” she says. Unlike in musicals, where a limited number of players are literally and figuratively “in the spotlight,” the dramas Merideth and her team choose “give every person a ‘moment.’ They learn that no part is unimportant, and that everyone is an integral part of the production.”

She reflects, “The Middle School program teaches this kind of thoughtful engagement, which the old system of extracurricular musicals could not support. Our students learn what it means to be part of an ensemble—which is every bit as powerful as being part of an athletics team.” And, playing against stereotype, Merideth notes that last year’s Acting Intensive class enrolled more boys than girls.

The significant changes made in the Middle School program have tremendous impact on the strength of the Upper School program as well. Merideth and Upper School Drama teacher Willie Teacher work together in the Acting Intensive class, co-teaching and co-directing. “Students get to know Willie,” she points out, and this makes it easy for them to stay involved in Upper School. Further, because the Acting Intensive course combines seventh and eighth grade students, the kids get to work closely with and build relationships with students outside their grade. “By the time they reach Upper School,” Merideth notes, “they already know many of the students a year ahead of them. The connection is there.”

Jack Clark, who has remained active in Hackley Theater through Upper School, says, “Ms. Maddox’s class was not so much a class of rules and ‘getting things right,’ but rather about listening and building up the tools I would later use in my acting career at Hackley. Ms. Maddox’s class gave me that gift. It gave me security and fun and a 40 minute break in the day when I didn’t have to be a perfect student or ‘get it right.’ I could just be myself.”